Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.

Amber ready to pay customers to charge their EVs as it prepares for vehicle to grid

Amber offers new product that could see EV owners being paid to charge their cars, but its big focus is on V2G tech that will turn cars into batteries on wheels and households into revenue earners.

Polestar Artarmon flagship store in Sydney. Source: Polestar

4 min

Polestar says it is “good to go” on V2G as Australia paves way for batteries on wheels

Swedish electric vehicle maker says it is "good to go" on vehicle to grid technology in Australia for at least one of its models after the approval of new standards.

3 min

Charging

RedEarth to make bidirectional chargers in Australia in early push on V2G technology

Brisbane-based RedEarth to become first in Australia to manufacture bidirectional chargers as market readies for big switch to vehicle to grid technologies.

2 min

Tesla officially launches V4 cabinet, doubles supercharging speed to 500 kW

Tesla reveals details of upcoming V4 supercharger cabinets which will deliver 500 kW of charging for cars while making deployments faster.

4 min

You will soon be able to power your house with your electric car. Here’s how

Why can’t you plug your car in and power your house? Soon, you will be able to. The suite of technologies already exists.

2 min

EV retrofit specialists wins Australian innovation challenge

Australian plug-and-play EV control system provider Veepower has won a major innovation award for its technology that simplifies the process of retrofitting vehicles.

Industry minister Ed Husic, prime minister Anthony Albanese and climate and energy minister Chris Bowen inspect a Nissan Leaf in Sydney. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

3 min

Charging

Batteries on wheels: Australia to allow vehicle to grid installations by end of year

Bowen says that agreement on new standards means that EV owners will be able to use vehicle to grid technology - effectively using their cars as batteries on wheels - by the end of the year.

3 min

Flexible EV charging prices prove to be good for solar soak, and it stopped ICEing

A new study on flexible tariffs for EV chargers shows that time of use pricing can be good for the grid, and reduces ICE-ing because they are used more.

Image generated using Gemini with prompt ‘Tesla charging bubble’.

6 min

I was living in a Tesla charging bubble

For years I enjoyed the comfort of the Tesla EV charging bubble. Driving a BYD from Sydney to Melbourne and back highlighted that more work is needed on public infrastructure.

2 min

Australian energy software start-up lands Arena grant for EV charger rollout

Orkestra secures Arena funds to develop software to help fleet owners, energy companies and others assess feasibility and financial modelling of EV charging stations.

Charging